Abstract
Atidan
Microsoft Windows Intune and Atidan Cloud for Unified Technology Infrastructure
According to Atidan, Microsoft Windows Intune enables a unified technology infrastructure by providing device management, managing security and compliance, and supporting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trends. According to Atidan, when combined with Office 365, Intune and Atidan’s managed Cloud services give users the best productivity experience, simplify technology management, and enable greater business agility. Atidan can assist small to large enterprises globally through its On Demand Support and extensive Cloud solution portfolio.
With Windows Intune, users can manage and secure employee-owned PCs and multiple types of mobile devices in one unified solution, either through the Cloud or by extending existing on-premises infrastructure. A single console can remotely manage and help secure devices, including PCs, Windows Phone 8, and Windows RT tablets. Users can also support both iOS and Android platforms. For even more extensibility, the Windows Intune service can be integrated with existing on-premises infrastructures, including Active Directory, System Center Configuration Manager, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.
More: www.slideshare.net/d501159/microsoft-windows-intune-enabling-byod-in-the-enterprise-from-atidan
Elsys Instruments
TranAX 3.4 Software
According to Elsys, new features of the TranAX 3.4 (formerly TransAS) client-server–based transient recorder application and signal analysis software make it one of the most complete data acquisition, analysis, and automation solutions available. Video recordings in common formats, such as avi, mp4, and mpg, can now be imported and synchronously displayed with actual measurement signals. This enables users to analyze measurement data and recordings by a high-speed camera simultaneously on screen. For analyzing acoustic signals, frequency spectra can be displayed as standard, octave, or 1/3 octave. Audio signals can be weighted in dB-A or dB-C. The redesigned formula-editor is more powerful, with more than 60 mathematical functions and an unlimited number of math-traces included for extensive signal analysis.
Program functions such as If/Then, Loops, End, and True/False make computing postmeasurement results from multiple simultaneous and/or sequential recordings easy and efficient. Events benefiting from these functions include multiblock recordings, a series of stored measurement files recorded by auto-sequence, or single-shot acquisitions with multiple events in one record.
Application-specific computing algorithms can be stored and recalled for later use. Programming can be done separately in a higher level language under Microsoft .NET, with the resulting software code then integrated as DLL in TranAX.
Designed for use with Elsys’s turnkey TraNET Transient Recorders and its TPCX data acquisition modules, which form the heart of the modular TraNET systems, as well as TPCE modules equipped with four-lane PCIe architecture, the new TranAX 3.4 software remotely controls the data acquisition equipment over 1-Gbit LANs from any location worldwide.
Hamamatsu
Functional Drug Screening System Software Enhancement
A new software function for the Hamamatsu Functional Drug Screening System (FDSS) increases data acquisition speed. The FDSS is capable of imaging-based, whole-plate detection of fluorescence or luminescence with built-in 96-, 384-, or 1536-channel liquid handling. Mainly used in G-protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) and ion channel assays, the FDSS typically produced one image per second, equivalent to 1-Hz data acquisition. However, this new software process allows existing FDSS instruments to have much faster data acquisition, up to 104 Hz, to enable the realization of more assays.
More: www.hamamatsu.com
Integrated DNA Technologies
PrimerQuest Open Access Tool
A new and enhanced version of the open-access PrimerQuest online tool is now available for PCR primer and probe design. Selection parameters are optimized with built-in presets for a range of applications. Compatibility with multiple-sequence entry formats is expanded and combined with a more intuitive user interface. These features streamline the process of setting up PCR or quantitative PCR (qPCR) experiments.
According to IDT, the PrimerQuest design tool is considered ideal for a variety of sequencing and end-point PCR applications, with updated default parameter presets (GC clamp, Poly X, and Pair max difference Tm) and overall improved parameter criteria for primer/probe size, Tm, and GC%. PrimerQuest is based on Primer 3 and delivers designs derived from user-specified information such as reaction conditions (e.g., MgCl2 and dNTP concentrations). Users can designate target locations, exon junctions, or existing primer and probe locations to obtain designs for specific experimental requirements. In addition, the PrimerQuest tool can now be used for studies on any scale, supporting larger experimental designs via the batch load setting. This feature can be used to analyze up to 50 sequences at a time, and primers can now be ordered in plate format for streamlining high-throughput PCR studies.
Integration of the PrimerQuest online tool with other software programs is now improved for maximum compatibility. Sequences can be uploaded in Excel format or can be manually entered and manipulated. Downloading in FASTA format using GenBank Accession ID allows efficient transfer and analysis, while a link-out enables BLAST search of primers to quickly ensure specificity.
Micronic
4.903 Track-IT Information Management System
With Micronic Traxcer code reader software now fully integrated with Track-IT, users can directly trigger tube or rack barcode scanning from the Track-IT program. This new version of the automation-friendly information management solution can scan in 5 s and transfer the codes directly into the Track-IT database program.
The 4.903 Track-IT is an out-of-the-box laboratory information management system/laboratory information system (LIS) solution built around independent modules that can interact with each other. It is designed to enable users to organize and securely track storage tubes and samples in seconds. It is fully compatible with most commercial barcode readers, rack scanners, and Tubesorter systems. The central information database produced by Track-IT is customizable. Using Intranet support, data can be accessed from any connected computer in the laboratory. Track-IT allows users to simply import data from existing files into a common presentation, undertake cross-database searches, quickly retrieve information, and produce reports.
More: www.micronic.com/products/74/sample-management-database
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Momentum 3.2 Scheduling Software
According to Thermo, Momentum 3.2 extends efficiency to enable the seamless integration of workflows with maximum operator simplicity. The upgraded software streamlines sample submission and allows the accurate execution of automated microplate handling processes, with easier user control and process management.
Suitable for compliant laboratories, Momentum 3.2 provides an enhanced end-user experience alongside reliable automation programming. Significant improvements to operating simplicity include three user-level controls: Administrator, Scientist, and System Operator. The Scientist level allows the laboratory researcher to manage the processes to ensure that technical automated procedures are approved for execution. System Operators are then exposed only to validated assays that can be routinely submitted with ease, in a few simple steps via touch-screen control. With these user levels, Momentum 3.2 is considered ideally suited for the completion of routine automated workflows and is designed to reduce the time, effort, and resources involved. The simplified user interface ensures samples are loaded, processed, and monitored under secure conditions.
iAutomate Software
This self-serve, free-to-use, online automation system configuration tool is designed to reduce the time associated with configuring and trialing an automation setup. Users can build their own system to meet individual application or process requirements or modify an existing system around the Thermo Scientific Orbitor RS plate mover. This allows for laboratory- or office-based access for automation optimization and efficient online estimating.
Titian Software and Labcyte
Mosaic Software and Labcyte Automation Systems
Titian’s Mosaic sample management suite has been integrated with Labcyte’s Access workstation and POD automation platform—two automation systems that incorporate Labcyte’s Echo liquid handler. According to Titian and Labcyte, the combination of Mosaic’s software and flexible integration modules, coupled with the Echo system’s low-volume acoustic liquid handling, enables fast, accurate, cost-effective, and fully traceable automated workflows for high-quality assay development and miniaturization.
Mosaic manages and tracks sample libraries with improved sample preservation and viability. Users can select individual substances, plates, or substance sets for assay. Mosaic allows assay plate formats to be defined and easily managed. Mosaic requests can also be configured as templates to precisely and repeatedly match the requirements of particular assays. The order workflow is managed, ensuring that the correct items are brought to Labcyte systems to begin assay-ready plate preparation.
Labcyte automation systems incorporate Echo liquid handlers into small- and large-scale systems for walk-away sample processing. Echo liquid handlers do not require the use of pipette tips, pin tools, or nozzles. A range of device options and accessories is available for Labcyte automation systems.
Titian provides a driver module that transfers instruction files to the Labcyte Tempo automation control software—an intuitive platform to develop protocols for the Access and POD systems. At the end of each acoustic transfer, the resulting changes in the inventory (including acoustic surveys of source well contents) are reflected in Mosaic, using the results data generated on the Labcyte systems, without operator interaction.
Labcyte Tempo software manages all tasks, including system setup as well as all plate and liquid-handling activities. After plate loading and sample transfer, the assay-ready plates are sealed or lidded and stacked ready for delivery. In addition to low-volume plate replication and hit picking, the ability of the Echo system to transfer samples in as little as 2.5 nL permits a direct dilution of samples for dose-response assays, eliminating the cross-contamination and error propagation seen with traditional serial dilution methods.
More: www.titian.co.uk or www.labcyte.com
TTP Labtech
acumen hci for Rapid Multiplexed Imaging
According to TTP Labtech, its new acumen hci (high-content imaging) system replaces the acumen eX3 as the fastest imager on the market for multiplex assays in up to 1536-well plates, and its new open-source image format offers flexibility to analyze images on existing analysis software if required. Together with whole-well imaging, these features make the acumen hci ideal for identifying “hit” wells in cell-based screens. Achieving unparalleled speeds during high-throughput screening, acumen hci can image and analyze the whole wells of a 96- to 1536-well plates in just 8 min, at a resolution of 0.5 µm/pixel. Up to three lasers allow for easy multiplexing using a wide range of fluorescent dyes. The new 561-nm laser option offers compatibility with even more dyes, like mCherry. Furthermore, with intuitive operation, multiple staff members can be easily trained. The acumen hci incorporates TTP Labtech’s cellista software, which enables high-throughput whole-well imaging of a range of hard to automate assays. The open-source, OME-compliant TIFF images can be exported without reducing scan times and are easily imported into a range of open-source and commercial image analysis packages. The acumen hci is also compatible with microscope slides using the widefield objective, for imaging of whole tissue sections in minutes.
Ventana Medical Systems
Virtuoso 5.4 Image Management and Workflow Software
New features introduced in Virtuoso 5.4 software include an enhanced image-viewing experience, an optimized LIS integration module, more flexibility in deployment options, and an improved accessioning module. These new features are designed to enable users to more efficiently integrate digital pathology into the laboratory workflow. The Virtuoso image and workflow management software is a web-based application that orchestrates a laboratory’s workflow around a patient’s digital slide, from the moment the slide is scanned to when the slide image is viewed and analyzed on a computer and the results are documented in a formal report. Integrated with the VENTANA iScan HT2 and iScan Coreo slide scanners and the VANTAGE workflow solution, Virtuoso software is an enterprise solution for managing digital slides and is fully integrated into the anatomic pathology laboratory’s workflow.
More: www.ventana.com